Fujitsu to recall 287,000 Sony batteries
The battery woes for Sony gets even worse...

Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu said on Wednesday that it would recall 287,000 notebook PC batteries made by Sony, bringing the number of Sony batteries recalled to more than 7.5 million.

Fujitsu last week joined a growing list of computer makers recalling Sony batteries but did not say at the time how many batteries would be affected.

Besides Fujitsu, Dell, Apple Computer, Lenovo, IBM and Toshiba have recalled the laptop PC batteries, which Sony has said can short-circuit on rare occasions, overheat and catch fire.

Following the recall announcements in August by Dell and Apple of a total 5.9 million batteries, Sony said the two recalls would cost it between 20 billion yen and 30 billion yen, or $170 million to $254 million. The company is also planning its own recall, which would include previously announced ones, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

But a Sony spokesman said after the Fujitsu announcement that total recall costs for Sony are now likely to exceed the previous estimate. The company will make an announcement as soon as its latest estimate and impact on the company's earnings become clear, he said.

Prior to the Fujitsu announcement, shares of Sony ended down 3.3 percent at a nine month closing low of 4,450 yen ($37.68). The Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index was down 1.27 percent.

Compounding the blow to Sony's reputation as a top-class manufacturer is a delay in the launch in Europe of its long-awaited new video game console, the PlayStation 3.

Read all about it here, courtesy of news.com.

-Eric